Centralizers are devices that are used to radially space (and roughly speaking, to center) a tubing string or portion thereof from the inner diameter of a surrounding wellbore or outer tubular member. In the context of drilling a well, for example, a centralizer may be used along a drill string to substantially center the drill string or portion thereof within a wellbore. In some examples, a centralizer may be positioned internal to a drill collar of the drill string. The centralizer may be sized to allow an external portion of the centralizer to maintain contact with an inner surface of the drill collar. The size and placement of the centralizer in the drill collar may reduce vibrations in the centralizer or drill collar during operation of the drill string. The size of the centralizer may also ensure that the centralizer remains positioned to center the drilling tools in the wellbore.
Centralizers may be rigid and only positionable in a particular drill collar or a particular set of drill collars having a certain size. Centralizers that are not appropriately sized for a drill collar may not maintain contact with the inner diameter of the drill collar. Ill-fitting centralizers may result in diminished functionality of the centralizer. For example, the outer portion of the centralizer may not maintain contact with the inner diameter of the drill collar if a centralizer is too small for placement in a drill collar. This may result in the free movement or vibration of the centralizer during operation of the drill string. The movement or vibration of the centralizer may also result in the drill string departing from an intended drill path.
In some cases, a centralizer may be too large for placement internal to the drill collar. A remedy may be to trim or file the centralizer to allow the centralizer to fit into the drill collar. But, this remedy may be insufficient as it results in additional labor costs to trim the centralizer and additional time to ensure that the centralizer is trimmed to the appropriate size. Further, where a centralizer is not appropriately trimmed (e.g., where the trimming results in a centralizer that is too small for the intended drill collar), additional costs and time may be spent replacing the centralizer with an appropriately sized centralizer for the intended drill collar.